Four years ago I took a big step and decided to leave my permanent job with EDS, a computer consulting company, and venture out on my own as an independent consultant. I had been with EDS for 11 1/2 years. A few people I knew had already made the leap and were successful in doing so. I contemplated the idea for quite a few months. It’s a big step. The economy at that time (2006) was quite good (no recession as we’ve just experienced).

It was becoming quite apparent that even though my “permanent” job allowed me to “sit on the bench” between being placed at various client sites (and still get paid), even the large consulting companies were waiting mere weeks before laying off permanent employees who had been with the company for as many as 17 years. I quickly saw that there was no loyalty and it would only take one short stint on the bench before unemployment came knocking. Read more of this post